Podcast: Marvin Olasky interviews the president of Rasmussen Reports on the necessity of accurate polling 
Click to Print
Include Comments
Whirled Views 12.15
Good morning.
On this day in 1791: The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
Welcome to our daily (except Sundays) open thread, where you, the commenters, choose the topics of conversation.
Topic: Watercooler Chatter, WorldMagBlog
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
back to top81 Comments to “Whirled Views 12.15”
And on this day in 2009, they continue to be trashed.
But:
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” NKJV
All great nation rise, decay, and fall. But the the kingdom of our Lord remains forever. Keep your focus on that as your primary goal. All other goals are secondary.
Blessings on your day!
MARANATHA!
Report comment to moderator
Thanks for the verse, mind sharing the exact place that is found? I think I need to post it to myself.
Thanks for sharing.
Report comment to moderator
I used that verse when I did a series about animals in the Bible.
Report comment to moderator
PS. 20:7
Report comment to moderator
Yesterday Sawgunner posted a quote from “The Princess and the Frog” The line was about being from far, far away and being asked if they were from Shreveport. Now granted Shreveport is the other end of the state from where most of the Disney action happens but it was slightly reminiscent of “Biloxi Blues” where the character asked the “loose woman” if she is from around there and she replies “Naw, sugah, I’m from Gulfport”
I have read several reviews of the newest in the Disney Princess line. Most say there are large portions that have been cut from the movie and it lacks continuity. Other’s say the villain reminds them of Obama. The funniest one I read took off from thinking it was a moview about Jacqelyn Kennedy and Aristotle Onassies.
Report comment to moderator
I see on “Doonesbury” that Tiger Wood’s mistressses are voting on whether or not to unionize.
Report comment to moderator
Once again, we are reminded that our heroes are only men with feet of clay…
Report comment to moderator
Today is Bill of Rights Day. But as Kevin Gutzman points out in this article, it’s not a day of celebration. Instead, it should be a day of mourning for the death of decentralized self-government.
OTOH, according to this article by Michael Boldin, ObamaCare might single-handedly resurrect it, via the legal doctrine of state nullification.
Report comment to moderator
Is anyone here familiar with Improv Everywhere? These fun loving pranksters stage elaborate public practical jokes, such as rounding up 100 people to freeze in place in Grand Central Terminal, or staging a musical in a mall food court.
Here, they’ve got a handbell choir giving a very charming assist to a Salvation Army worker outside of Bloomingdale’s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40qHb9uFpRI&feature=player_embedded
Delightful!
Report comment to moderator
Delightful. I have rung the bell for the Salvation Army several times. We didn’t wear their vest, but a Lions’s jacket.
Report comment to moderator
What is the story behind the US sending drones over a large Pakistani city? Doesn’t bother any of you? It would bother me if the US sent drones over my city looking for bad guys, and the sovereignty issues of another county . . . I don’t get it.
Report comment to moderator
Thanks for sharing that Thomas…as I stare out my kitchen window at more and more and more rain. Several roads and highways were closed lastnight due to rain and fog. Today we are still under flash flood warnings and they are saying be careful where you drive. I am just starting to worry about these little pieces of skin growing between my toes….
Report comment to moderator
Adios, did your town ever regain power? Did the gov’t step in to redistribute yours and the mayor’s?
Report comment to moderator
Kim, you have ample incentive to curl up on the sofa and watch old film noir all day. I recommend “Laura” or “Where The Sidewalk Ends” with Dana Andrews.
Hope you are able to enjoy a lazy day.
Report comment to moderator
Here’s “Food Court Musical”, just for Kim:
http://improveverywhere.com/2008/03/09/food-court-musical/
Report comment to moderator
Stephen King apparently donated $12,999 to send 150 troops home to Maine for Christmas. One of his assistants threw in the extra dollar to make it $13,000 since King felt that the number 13 was unlucky.
Report comment to moderator
Spider on the Ceiling
Report comment to moderator
A (very) pregnant woman just asked me if it was OK for her to go bowling. I replied that, not only was it OK, but I’d like to see it!
Report comment to moderator
StuBob,
I did that with second son. Hub and I went bowling in the evening because his mom had come to watch first son for the event. Second was born the next morning. It is something to do while waiting.
Report comment to moderator
Thomas, thanks for posting the improv links, those are great — plus, you’d cleared up a mystery for me.
A while back the poster once known as RPN put a link up to a video of a spontaneous Sound of Music number being performed at Grand Central Station, I believe, and I was always curious whether it was just a bunch of drama/music students. Now I see they do this all over, which is so fun.
I have a computer guy coming today to see if he can fix my printer. It’s continually had problems getting an “out of paper” error message (used to be off and on it would do that in between printing, but now I can’t get it to print at all). I tried resetting it according to the instructions the manufacturer sent me, but no go. So I’m hoping the repair guy can tell me if the printer’s bad or what.
One of our large Christian bookstores is closing at the end of the year, a victim of the economy, on top of competition from Amazon.com, Costco and Walmart apparently. Sad, it’s been in the community for decades and was part of a larger chain. Kind of surprising to see it go under. When I was there last night I’d mentioned to the cashier how crowded the place always seemed to be (I don’t go there often — I order books mostly from Amazon, I confess), but I still get there maybe 4-6 times in a year. But he said even though people still come to “browse,” sales have just fallen off dramatically.
Report comment to moderator
I tired to play volleyball. Jumped up to spike the ball, felt the baby . . . land with me and delivered the next day.
Report comment to moderator
Posted yesterday by donna j: Just had a “live” chat on facebook with my old best-friend from high school. She’s now in Arkansas, looking for a church … recommendations?
Where in Arkansas? It may be the smallest mainland state west of the Mississippi, but it is still rather large.
And what kind of church? I know several Sovereign Grace/Southern Baptist churches in Ark, and perhaps could suggest one for her.
Report comment to moderator
When my wife was 9mos pregnant, we went on a Saturday night hayride with our church group. On Monday morning, Chuck came. We suspect the hayride, because he was two weeks early.
When I lived in Annandale, I always bought from the local bookstore, walking distance, even though it was slightly higher, because I wanted the book “now”, and I wanted the bookstore to remain there.
Here, since I seldom visit the bookstore in the mall, I usually order the book. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.
Report comment to moderator
Peter — She’s in Cabot, Ark. Says she’s looking for a non-denominational church or “Lutheran” which is an odd either/or, I know (I did tell her to stick with Missouri Synod, but she didn’t seem to know there were different “kinds” of Lutheran churches). Anyway, I don’t know what her connection to Lutheran churches would be, but I’d posted on facebook something about the wonderful Christmas concert I’d gone to at a local Lutheran church here, so perhaps she got the idea there, I don’t really know.
She mentioned there were a lot of Baptist churches in Ark. (Baptist Central, I think she called it), but for some reason that’s not what she’s looking for.
She became a Christian right after our high school graduation, married and moved to Missouri where she and her family belonged to an independent, Bible church. She’s divorced now and, as I recall, she had issues in general with “denominations” as so many of our generation did when the “Jesus Movement” took off in our high school-college years.
But if you have any recommendations, I’ll be sure to pass them on. I’d love to see her get into a good, strong church. She visited out here about 3-4 years ago and as I recall she’d fallen out of attending church at that time. I think she went through a very tough period with the divorce, she’s now staying somewhere near her grown kids and their young families.
Report comment to moderator
Chas
When my wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant, we hiked up the trail from the parking lot to the top of Mt. Mitchell. It was hot in the foothills, so I took her up there to cool off. The looks on some people’s faces were priceless!
Report comment to moderator
Some good news on the climate change front today:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/copenhagen/article6957517.ece
Report comment to moderator
Thomas1 and Donna;
Love the flash mob thing. probably the best known ones are Liverpool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM
Antwerp:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k
And, strangely enough… Oprah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyLuIY8IyO4
Report comment to moderator
Of course that is always balanced with more bad news, which is that our thug-in-chief is going to try and force the Senate Democrats to just pass something. This man is so desperate to up his grade to A- that he really doesn’t care how much it costs, what it contains or how many people will lose their jobs because of this fiasco of a takeover.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlMpJGn28kqCcgU-aGcYE_ZHW-ywD9CJQFQ00
Report comment to moderator
If Obama is a thug for trying to get legislative support for a bill, then Bush should be reclassified as a Visigoth for not doing so.
Report comment to moderator
I tried to continue bowling (in our weekly bowling league) when I was pregnant with our first son, and sometime around the fifth month I felt something pull or shift or something as I was preparing to release the ball. I have enough problems with hips and knees under ordinary conditions (from various minor injuries when I was younger, stuff that doesn’t show anything on an X-ray or MRI but still gives me problems from time to time), I wasn’t going to take chances doing something worse to myself so I’d have trouble even walking. (I did have to go to the chiropractor after my son was born to get adjusted because one leg had somehow become slightly higher than the other.)
When I was pregnant with the second son, we went bowling once as a family, but I didn’t try to do the normal approach, I just walked up to the line and pushed the ball with both hands the way little kids do. With about as much success, I think. I ended up having to walk with a cane anyway because the pain got so bad in one hip. The doctor tried to tell me that it was from my son pressing on something, but I couldn’t see how a baby as active as he was could continually press on one spot. (I think he spent most of the nine months doing somersaults. We nicknamed him Squirmy.)
I was expecting to make a visit to the chiropractor as soon as I felt up to going out and about after my son was born. To my amazement, as soon as his shoulders finally made it out (he got stuck, and the doctor considered breaking his collarbone to get him out), the pain I’d had for months vanished.
Report comment to moderator
IAF, you are correct that Obama’s health care governmental takeover is still moving forward due to the assorted corrupt felons and goons in the Democrat leadership (and ranks) in the U.S. Senate; even though it has been (presumably) superficially shorn of its most obviously fetid Socialistic feature (public option).
Nevertheless, even without an explicit public option, it continues to represent a blatant attack on this Republic and an enormous increase in State control, up to and including Death panels. It is a Socialist’s dream-come-true.
Parenthetically, I do not really classify Obama as a thug. He is too cowardly to be a thug, at least a first-rate thug.
He surrounds himself with thugs like Rahm, yes, but he lets them do the really dirty work, while he shoots hoops and plays golf and poses for pictures.
Report comment to moderator
I think I’ve mentioned here before about the strange pitches I get from folks trying to get their products or nonprofits on our pets blog at work.
The latest is a plea to promote a new calendar coming out that features “hot guys & baby animals.”
Oy.
I love that I went to journalism school for this.
Computer guy called to say he really thinks my printer problem is a bad paper sensor and I’ll just have to return it, so I’ll give HP another call — the printer was “free” (with the rebate) when I got a new computer in august.
Report comment to moderator
Hey, here’s one for the “power of the state” files. At a little after 6:00 this morning my phone rang. I thought it was probably a wrong number, but could have been a family emergency, so I answered it.
It was an automated message subpoenaing me to appear in court as a witness against the person who hit me, and warning that I’m required to do so. Well, first of all, I’m a victim of the crime and not a “witness” to the crime, and the crime was against me and not against the state. Second, if it is illegal for telemarketers to call someone at 6:15, why is it legal for the state to do so?
Also, my insurance tells me that there’s a $200 deductible, and they’ll “try” to collect it from the person who hit me. Let’s see, the state can make me pay several hundred dollars a year for insurance, but it can’t “make” someone who doesn’t carry the mandatory insurance pay a mere $200? If nothing else, there ought to be extra labor a person can do in prison to pay back such a cost.
Report comment to moderator
Wow. We’re not having good days I see.
I have to take my Spanish 2 final. I’m just going to cry now. *sobs*
Report comment to moderator
Cheryl – if you think that is bad, wait until the government is running your health insurance. That little $200 deductible will look like a pittance and what we think of as inconvenience now will be heaven compared to what it will be.
Thomas1 – you can call Bush a thug or a visigoth (what is that anyway?) if you would like. By thug I was referring to the way that Chicago Democrats traditionally conduct themselves and the way that Obama in his past (oh wait we’re not supposed to bring his past up because he doesn’t have one or it isn’t an indication of what he will do in the present or future or some smoke screen like that) won his first IL Senate seat, the way that he got put on the ballot for the U.S. Senate seat and the people he surrounds himself with (Rezko, Ayers – fine upstanding citizens). So, you can keep following your leader and bring Bush up every time something is uncomfortable or you have to admit your socialist leader may be leading you down a blind path, that is fine with me.
Drill – I love your posts.
Report comment to moderator
Cheryl, you’re a witness to a crime. Show up like they told you. But I thought all supoena’s had to be hand delivered. ??
The accident was in violation of a state law. Therefore, it was against the state. You were merely the victim. The state is interested in justice, not reimbursement for you. If he is found guilty, your insurance company will have a case for collecting against the man. The judge may be sympathetic to you, but the state doesn’t care.
Report comment to moderator
Some insurance policies/companies will cover your deductible up front if it’s not your fault. I’m with State Farm and I don’t know that they offer that. If the guy at fault has a good insurance company, though, they will cover that so you’re not out the money.
But with this guy being uninsured … Not sure how that works, but I agree, you shouldn’t have to pay anything.
And Chas is right, show up at court at the appointed time.
Report comment to moderator
Well, I think my printer may be fixed. I called HP Tech support (went through the ‘live chat’ and email processes twice before with no solution) and at one point the guy had me load only about 25 pieces of paper in the printer.
Voila! It started printing. So it could be this new printer has a very sensitive paper sensor or something, but he said the optimum number of pages is around 25-30 (I think I had maybe twice that as my last printer could be loaded with lots of paper).
Anyway, I still have 120 days left on the warranty and for $15 more I decided to extend that to 2 years, just in case — that way if the problem should recur (even the tech guy said this seemed almost too easy of a fix) I can get a replacement in that time if needed.
Report comment to moderator
“He surrounds himself with thugs like Rahm, yes, but he lets them do the really dirty work, while he shoots hoops and plays golf and poses for pictures.”
Ah. I get it. He’s just a “pretty boy thug”?
Report comment to moderator
I was subpoenad to testify in court against the driver who hit me when I was 14 years old. (I was walking on the sidewalk, he was driving a friend’s car that he had been told had bad brakes, the brakes failed when he pulled out of the driveway and he came up on the sidewalk and knocked down a fence.) The court date was set for an afternoon when I would miss biology class, which was fine with me. I thought it was exciting getting involved in something grown-up like a court case. (I don’t know how I’d have felt if I’d been seriously injured, but I just had “abrasions and contusions” according to the official report.) I was disappointed when the guy decided not to contest it after all and I didn’t have to go to court, and instead I had to stay in biology class.
Report comment to moderator
We have “uninsured motorist” coverage, which I presume means our insurance company pays us when we get hit by a motorist without insurance. Maybe I am misunderstanding it. Do you have such coverage Cheryl?
Report comment to moderator
good point Peter. Most policies have this.
Report comment to moderator
#34 – TT
I have to give a Physical Science final…I may break down myself…
Report comment to moderator
After 9-11 how many attacks on our Nation? None.
Since Obama came to power how many attacks on our Nation by a mulsim Terr. One at Ft. Hood.
Report comment to moderator
wait I am sorry there was two attacks on our Nation by a mulsim Terr. One at Ft. Hood and the other at an Army Recurting Offices
Report comment to moderator
Chas, I don’t know if subpoenas have to be hand delivered or not. In any event, I think Cheryl, rather than compliaining about receiving an automated call, should be glad that her city or county is adopting and using technology – I would think an automated call system would prove to save costs and hence tax dollars, compared with hand delivery, in those cases where it can be used.
When businesses adopt new technology, we praise them for being innovative, but when government does it, we complain. Curious, that.
Our county courts have gone to automated call systems for jurors, and it saves you having to come in and sit around for the day, unless there is a good likelihood you will be interviewed for a jury that day. Previously, you had to go and sit around, possibly for the better part of the week waiting.
Report comment to moderator
I wasn’t complaining. In Fairfax Co., you could call the night before to determine if you needed to report. I was once supeoned as a witness. A guy sat in front of my house for me to return when my wife told him I wasn’t home.
Report comment to moderator
Pastor Roy – And there were more potential-attacks that were discovered & stopped before they could happen.
Scary.
Report comment to moderator
Karen O 12.15.09 AT 3:47 PM
Pastor Roy – And there were more potential-attacks that were discovered & stopped before they could happen.
Scary.
–
my fear it is going to get worst as we move from treating them as Terr attacks, to just well a crimial issue
Report comment to moderator
So I personally think that ESPN needs to use the the new Phil Jones polar bear mascot in a Sportcenter commercial by next week.
Report comment to moderator
I wasn’t complaining about receiving an automated call. I was complaining about receiving an automated call at 6 a.m. and them expecting me to “have pen and paper handy.” Even when I worked at 8:00 in the morning, I did not get up at 6 a.m.
Yes, this is covered under uninsured/underinsured. The car was old enough that I had removed collision and comprehensive.
Chas, the understanding that a crime is against the state is an American one. Chuck Colson makes the point (I believe effectively) that biblically a crime was against an individual, and the criminal owed restitution to that individual. If someone broke into my house and stole $1,000 worth of goods, for instance, he was to repay that at a set rate (three or four times as much as he stole). If he couldn’t pay outright, then he worked for me until the amount was paid off. Now a crime is against the impersonal “state,” and the criminal might hardly think about the fact that he also wronged an individual. Colson said that when penal systems go back to restitution to an individual rather than locking up the individual, the recidivism rate goes down because criminals are more likely to see that they’ve harmed an actual person and an actual family. As it is now, not only does his being locked up not do one thing toward paying for the damage, but it actually defrauds me again (Colson’s argument still), because it takes my tax dollars to pay for his living expenses while he’s locked up. Legally his crime was “against the state,” but morally it was against me–and if the crime had been a violent one, that would have been even truer.
Report comment to moderator
I’d have to agree…I can easily see theivery going down if theives had to pay back 3 to 5 times the amount they stole.
Report comment to moderator
Plus thats a lot less prison space needed.
Report comment to moderator
Evangelist, University Founder Oral Roberts Dies at Age 91
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580312,00.html
Report comment to moderator
But as far as the insurance, they did give me a price, and to my surprise, the total is higher than the “price to repair” that they gave me yesterday. (I didn’t think they ever did that.) In fact, totalling the 15-year-old car, after the deductible, will actually give me $500 more than the price my brother charged me for the five-year-old car! So, I drove a very good car for ten years, and when it was beginning to get undependable, God sent me a new one “free”!
BTW, it’s not a sin to buy a car on payments, but this is a “lesson” on faith for anyone who is waiting on God, or who feels like God wants something and can’t figure out how to do it. I’ve always bought my cars for cash, and usually that has meant saving and waiting to buy. Twice it has meant being without a car until I had enough money for one (my first car, and then the car I bought a year after graduating from college–I didn’t own a car during college).
This time my car was 15 years old, and I was trying to save for a newer one and wasn’t able to. I knew I could go out and buy a car on payments, and that it wouldn’t be a sin to do so, but the Bible does caution us to avoid debt and I wanted to buy for cash again if possible. So I asked God to keep the Corolla running until I had the means to replace it. If God had answered no, and the car had needed to be replaced, I would have taken on payments, but I wanted to avoid that if possible.
It has been well over a year that I’ve waited for a newer car. In fact, last year I was praying if possible that I’d get one in 2008, so when 2009 came, that was when I changed my prayer to “keep this car running,” thinking that God’s word to me was “wait.” Thus, when this accident happened, it seemed like God’s answer. But I didn’t expect that God was going to give me a car for less than the “price” of the old car. That was His delicious surprise, and His reinforcement that waiting on Him is worthwhile.
Now, God wasn’t required to answer this way. I could have ended up in the hospital and with less payment for the car than it was worth. As Random would say “heads we win, tails we win.” God is sovereign, and it is His right. But He would have still been taking care of me if He had chosen to put me in the hospital. He is still good, and He can still be trusted. This time He chose to make me wait for more than a year, and then to answer extravagantly. To Him be the glory.
Report comment to moderator
He did a lot to harm our faith.
Report comment to moderator
Bianca 12.15.09 AT 4:54 PM
He did a lot to harm our faith.
Oral Roberts ?
Report comment to moderator
Pastor Roy – Yes – sorry. Cheryl and I crossposted. Oops!
Report comment to moderator
Bianca 12.15.09 AT 5:31 PM
Pastor Roy – Yes – sorry. Cheryl and I crossposted. Oops
–
how did he harm the faith? I know his son did something that seem to be wrong. But I have not heard of him doing anything that was wrong?
Report comment to moderator
I did not know this He was also a forerunner of the controversial “prosperity gospel” that has come to dominate televangelism.
Report comment to moderator
Cheryl – Rejoicing with you over God’s faithfulness! And I love that phrase, “His delicious surprise”. (I may use that sometime.)
Report comment to moderator
What do you do when you have an elderly neighbor who doesn’t want your 17 year old son (or any of your visitors) to park his car on HER street?
Truly, we have no where else to park it, and it is not illegal. But, she doesn’t want any cars on HER street (as she calls it). Sigh. I don’t want to be a bad neighbor, but we live in a looped street and we’re one of the “corner” houses that has no curb and that only has a two car driveway. The car isn’t even parked by her house (just down from it). And, we have permission from the neighbors by whose house it is parked.
And, good heavens, my parents came to visit and they had to put their van somewhere!
I’m frustrated, because I imagine that she’s old and lonely and complaining about our car to anyone who’ll listen (she had the police out last night, but they just told us to drive it around the block every 72 hours, and then we can re-park it in the same place) because she has nothing else to do to occupy her time.
But, she’s German, and difficult, and she doesn’t own the street!
I oscillate between just ignoring her, or taking her cookies and trying to make friends. But, I’m tired. And, I don’t want to make cookies right now. Moreover, I don’t want to talk to her anymore about it (I’ve gotten two calls today alone.)
But, I also don’t want her keying my son’s car (or my parents’ car) or doing something even worse. (She already left a note on my parents’ car telling them to move it, and they just arrived last night!)
Sigh.
Report comment to moderator
TT #34- ¿Cómo fue el examen? Yo tengo que dar exámenes la semana próxima.
(You want a translation? What? You should know if you are in Spanish 2!)
Report comment to moderator
No soy TT, pero entiendo. Pero quiero aprender hablar mejor en español. No tengo nadie con quienes puedo hablar y practicar.
Report comment to moderator
An elderly woman who “keys” cars? Well, I’ll say this for her, she’s got spunk!
(But I don’t blame you, TRS, it sounds like a very difficult situation and she is obviously being unreasonable.)
I always think of Luther’s phrase about how we are to “be Christ to our neighbor.”
Report comment to moderator
TRS,
Ven a Muscatine, Iowa. Hay muche gente mexicana.
Report comment to moderator
#65
But, how to be Christ in this situation?
I must park the car there, and my guests must park their cars there, so giving in is off the table.
I can, of course, be gracious while not giving in.
It is frustrating. I have no idea why she needs to “own” that street.
Report comment to moderator
#66
My grandparents lived in Iowa. But, I’m afraid the icky summers and the long stretches of empty, flat fields did not endear me to the idea of living there!
Report comment to moderator
Not too many stretches of empty flat fields in Muscatine, because it’s right on the Mississippi. I actually haven’t ridden my bike much because of the hills. No matter which way I go, I have to go up/down some hills steep enough that I have trouble making it to the top without getting off to walk.
Summers here are no ickier than anywhere else I’ve lived (CT, PA, NJ, MI).
Report comment to moderator
TRS- ¿Dónde vives?
And speak not ill of Iowa. It is the home of my in-laws. The weather may not be great, and one gets used to flatness, but there is a lot more to the Hawkeye State than corn and hog farms.
Report comment to moderator
Thomas,
Yesterday you attempted to defend the repulsive Safe School Czar Kevin Jennings, formerly of the GLSEN organization, by way of MediaMatters. Here’s who you’re defending. Are you sure you don’t want to rethink that? This link below has 4-5 stories on Jennings, and there’s 2 more out since. This stuff gets pretty graphic I warn you now. I would ask that you consider the evidence yourself, and not take MM’s word. I would also ask that you prayerfully reconsider your support for him. This is not a partisan issue. It’s about whats right and acceptable to be teaching kids this young. Thanks.
Content Warning!!!!!!!!
http://biggovernment.com/category/education/
Report comment to moderator
I’m afraid as I can’t compete in racing to the bottom with the previous comment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/dec/08/religion-society-gregory-paul
Brief quote from article:
“The 1st world nations with the highest levels of belief in God, and the greatest religious observance are also the ones with all the signs of societal dysfunction. ”
As I’ve pointed out, civilization will end by the end of the century, if not by 2012 (or sooner).
Actually, I saw a dead bunny on our private gravel road, a couple of days ago. Not one I shot. This is true. Not only that, after a couple of days, it’s been mostly untouched. In fact, my wife said, with some irritation, “Where are the scavengers?!”
In fact, not a crow was to be seen, anywhere. Or coyote.
Are these not signs the End is Coming?
Report comment to moderator
Speaking of superstition, when I was in my twenties, I became a big fan of the behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner.
Skinner overreached in thinking he could understand all that could be understood about human psychology with his “black box,” approach, but much of his work still remains relevant and insightful; for example, his examples of superstitious behavior.
I find myself having to struggle with urges to superstitious thinking all the time. As he pointed out, with pigeons and rats, with “operant conditioning” [reinforcement theory] one could get them to behave in “superstitious” ways all the time fairly easily.
If you think this applies only to animals and not human beings (who are after all, animals), very similar behavior has been frequently observed in sports figures, who insist on wearing “lucky” items of clothes or using lucky bats or gold clubs or whatever. [Of course, perhaps sports figures are not human beings and are in fact, animals. Say Tiger Woods.]
It’s not a long distance from superstitious sports stars to people who believe in “miracles” that are more easily explained by coincidence.
http://www.essortment.com/all/superstitiousbe_rsqz.htm
Report comment to moderator
AJ – it goes back to December 8th when I posted the LINK regarding the “Safe School Czar Kevin Jennings” and Thomas complaints. I don’t know who anyone can defend Jennings.
THIS from the thread “Leaving gays out”
http://online.worldmag.com/2009/12/08/leaving-gays-out/
POST 51 – BY Victoria 12.08.09 AT 7:30 PM
I gave the LINK – Barack Obama’s Safe Schools Czar’s 2000 Conference Promoted ‘Fisting’ to 14 Year-Olds
http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/07/fistgate-barack-obamas-safe-schools-czars-2000-conference-promoted-fisting-to-14-year-olds/
Then there are ‘SOME’ of Thomas1 posts –
POST 55 – BY Thomas1 12.08.09 AT 7:37 PM
POST 62
POST 64
And then there is more …….
Report comment to moderator
#70
Vivo en Oregon.
And, the summers here couldn’t begin to compete with Iowa’s humid, hot, and mosquito filled ones.
(I love ya, Pauline. But, I didn’t like Iowa much when I visited my grandparents. Of course, they lived in a VERY small town, which could explain some of my feelings about it.)
Report comment to moderator
Post #74 SHOULD READ:
“I don’t know how anyone can defend Jennings.”
Report comment to moderator
I love Iowa, but TRS is right, those summers were brutal. As a kid, I remember just running through the big meadow of daisies and wildflowers near my grandfather’s house.
But by the time I was a teen and later in college, the humidity and GIANT mosquitos were pretty horrifying to me when I’d visit. Fall was always the best. In fact, I guess fall and spring are about the nicest seasons anywhere.
Weather-wise, I think I’d probably like Oregon and the Pacific Northwest a lot.
Report comment to moderator
I don’t know how wonderful Oregon’s weather is at the moment.
Here, in the Willamette Valley, it’s finally decided to stop the rather uncharacteristic well-below-freezing, beautifully clear, icy days and revert to the usual ~45 degree, ever-overcast constant rain.
They kept tossing around words like “snow.”
Would have been nice.
Report comment to moderator
Victoria, your vulgar lies about Jennings have been roundly debunked. Quit while you’re behind.
Spread any tittilating tidbits about folks at the mall today? If not, you’d best get on it. Christmas is coming and people aren’t too particular about who helps them when the mall is crowded. If you’re planning on rallying the Bigot Brigade, your peak time has arrived.
Report comment to moderator
Pastor Roy (44): After 9-11 how many attacks on our Nation? None.
Frank: [BUZZ] Wrong answer:
“[B]eginning on September 18, 2001[, l]etters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others.”
Besides, where was the Bush Administration after receiving warnings of possible attacks using commercial airliners against US targets? Never heard of the Presidential Daily Briefing “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike inside US,” delivered to Dubya on August 6, 2001?
And where was the US military when 4 commercial aircraft turned off their transponders (30 minutes before the first WTC impact for Flight 11) and whose courses were determined by radar to have been severely altered?
Oh, but sleep tightly when a Repulsivecan is in the WH, but be afraid, be very afraid when one-a-dem eee-vil Democraps is in the WH …
(Partisn hack.)
Report comment to moderator
Pastor Roy (49): my fear it is going to get worst as we move from treating them as Terr attacks, to just well a crimial issue
Frank: “Terr attacks” are a criminal issue. At least, attacks perpetrated by private citizens are (as opposed to State actors).
Report comment to moderator
back to topJoin The Conversation
You need to be a registered user of WORLDmag.com's blogs to "join the conversation."
If you are not a member yet, what are you waiting for? Register / Login Now!